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Socorro County settled two million dollars in a lawsuit for the alleged civil and constitutional rights violation of Jessie Chavez, an inmate at the Socorro County detention Center.
“They forced Jessie to endure truly appalling living conditions,” said Steven Robert Allen, director of the New Mexico Prison & Jail Project, the law firm that represented Mr. Chavez. “Instead of treating him for his obvious mental health crisis, they placed him in almost complete isolation, surrounded by filth, which predictably made his mental health issues much worse.”
County Manager Andy Lotrich said in an email that the lawsuit is not indicative of the detention center’s current operations or the caring nature of its employees.
“Although we do not comment on litigation, the county disagrees with statements made by plaintiff’s counsel and the allegations in the complaint,” County Manager Andrew Lotrich said.
County Detention Center Administrator Eddie Garcia, Earl Apachito, Tonya Mosier, and a correctional officer identified as Jane/John Doe are listed as the defendants in the complaint filed by Mallory Gagan, attorney for Chavez , on February 23, 2024.
According to the complaint, 42-year-old Chavez, a Valencia County resident, was booked twice at the Socorro County Detention Center (SCDC).
On May 31, 2022, he was arrested for missing court on a pending Socorro County magistrate misdemeanor charge and was booked into SCDC that day. His paperwork noted a history of psychosis, and he was experiencing mental health symptoms upon his arrival and was not offered any kind of medical provider, said the complaint. Chavez was put in a solitary cell and flooded by leaving the faucet on in his sink on May 31 and again on June 3. As a result, his water was turned off, leaving him in a dry cell without access to a toilet, sink, or faucet. He was forced to defecate in his cell, the cell was never cleaned, and Chavez was allowed only one shower during the 11 days, according to the complaint. He remained in the dry cell until June 14, when he was posted bond and was released.
The complaint continues that on November 4, 2022 Chavez was arrested again for failure to appear and was booked in the SCDC. He did not receive medical or a mental health screening and was placed in a solitary cell with running water and a toilet. From November 8 through December 3, he was detained in a dry cell and periodically put in solitary confinement based on medical/suicide watch.
According to the complaint, over the 117 days of Chavez’s incarceration, the official SCDC special management inmate multi activities tracking form reflects the staff provided breakfast on 55 days, lunch on 52 days and dinner on 30 days. He spent 34 days of his four-month incarceration in the dry cell; his lawyers claim he begged for food and water from the staff, and other inmates felt bad for him and gave him food. Chavez reportedly lost 20 pounds.
After his second incarceration, the complaint said that he was admitted to the University of New Mexico Hospital and referred to New Mexico Behavioral Health Institute and treated for hallucinations and delusions. The complaint said he still requires intensive mental health treatment and remains severely damaged by the treatment he received at the detention center.
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Allen said that Chavez is improving since he received the necessary medical care.
“He’s someone who’s had to live with mental health issues his entire life, but he is taking medications now and getting mental health counseling and other things that help him,” Allen said. “The good thing about this settlement is he’ll have the resources he needs to have a really good life where he’s well taken care of. So we are very grateful for that.”
Allen said someone like Chavez probably shouldn’t have been in jail in the first place. What he needed was proper treatment.
“Jail is the wrong place for that. But when people like that do end up in jail, they need to be treated humanely. They need to be treated constitutionally.” Allen said.
Allen believes it’s a wake-up call for the county.
“They can’t treat people like that. It’s inhumane but it’s also unconstitutional and a very expensive lesson, but an important one,” Allen said.
He said it is more cost-effective to ensure inmates receive proper medical treatment and that staff receive basic medical and mental health training.
Lotrich said the lawsuit was filed several years ago when Michael Hawkes was the county manager.
“The county of Socorro is proud of its caring and attentive detention staff. Our staff provides quality care to all detainees, as the detainees are members of our community,” Lotrich said. “The County continues to implement additional standards in the facility to improve the quality of care. The county is also continuing to effectuate positive change through the implementation of our welding program and other educational opportunities for our detainees. We, like every other entity in New Mexico and especially rural New Mexico, strive to address our community’s need for mental healthcare in an environment of extremely limited resources.”
Lotrich confirmed the settlement money came from the county insurance.
“The County has and will continue to work with the detainees to develop programs that provide education and job training. In fact, the detention center just had its first female detainee become a certified welder by passing both 3G and 4G in GMAW,” Lotrich said.
At the March 11 county meeting, commissioners unanimously approved a contract with FasPsych for mental health services inside the detention center.
“The FASPSYCH agreement is not related to the lawsuit. This is the first time the county has been able to secure mental health services for the detention center through a single provider that is available after-hours,” Lotrich said.
The New Mexico Prison & Jail Project is a nonprofit law firm launched in 2020 that seeks to protect the rights of incarcerated people in New Mexico by bringing civil rights lawsuits on their behalf.
